Friends
by Arcynic
Summary: Ryo... what's the point of having friends if you'll just end up losing them...? [Oneshot]


A warm spring night found a young man in his early twenties walking through the deserted streets of West Shinjukuu. His spiked brown hair ruffled in the wind as he turned the familiar corner to a place he knew far too well, the park.

"Ruki..." He breathed as he found an auburn haired female swinging somewhat awkwardly on the swing set. At the mention of her name, the young woman, about eighteen years old, looked up and smiled crookedly at him waving a brown paper bag in her hand.

"Lookie Ryo! I'm -hic- finally legal!" And as if to emphasize this point, she took a swig from the bottle inside of the bag. Ignoring the implications of her statement, Ryo walked up to the girl and swiped the bag from her hand. He sniffed the contents of the bottle, sighed, and then tossed the bag into a nearby garbage can.

"Hey! I was drinking -hic- that!" Ruki frowned as she stumbled off the swing towards the garbage can. Ryo caught her around the waist before she could fall flat on her face.

"Woah, I don't think so. You're drunk enough."

"I'm _not_ drunk." She protested, trying to squirm out of his grasp.

"Yeah okay. I'm taking you home now." He replied, heaving her over his shoulder.

"Let me down! I'm not -hic- drunk! Ryooo!" She slurred, pounding her fists on his back, and doing a fine job of missing. The older of the two simply sighed and proceeded to walk in the direction of Ruki's house, making sure to keep her steady when she tried to dive at the trashcan on their way out.

* * *

"Ryo! Ryoooooo! _Ryo!_" Ruki's whines filled the air as the two made their way down the street. Ryo sighed as she scored a kick to his gut as she, with unusually boundless energy, constantly flailed about on his shoulder. 

"Okay, I have to take a break." He sighed, rubbing his stomach as he deposited her onto a nearby wall.

"Are you calling me fat?" She asked, swatting his shoulder in annoyance. He winced and prayed that he wouldn't have too many bruises the next day. Ruki was already a strong girl, but the alcohol seemed to have given her a boost in strength. As Ryo sat down, the auburn haired female wobbled along the top of the wall.

"See Ryo. If I -hic- were drunk, I wouldn't be able to walk a straight line."

"Ruki, stop before you hurt yourself."

"I'm not going to -hic- hurt myself cause I'm not..." As she said this, her feet swayed from the edge of the wall.

"Ruki!"

She dropped like a log from the wall and Ryo came just in time for her to fall straight on top of him, sending them both crashing to the ground.

"...drunk." She murmured drowsily, muffled against the fabric of Ryo's shirt.

"That you are." Ryo mumbled, pain lacing his words. "And are _you_ okay?"

"Of course silly, you -hic- broke my fall." She giggled.

"Great."

They stayed like that in silence for a while before Ryo ventured to break it. "Ruki...?"

"Mmm?"

"Why did you leave your house to get drunk? You worried your mom and grandma. They asked me to look for you...are you all right...?" He felt her slow even breathing against his chest and wondered briefly if she had fallen asleep, before she answered softly.

"Ryo... what's the point of having friends if you'll just end up losing them...?"

He sighed, "Ruki..." He felt her clench the folds of his shirt in anger as she continued.

"If you just end up this miserable...isn't it better that you never had them at all? Then I was much better off before you and Takato and Jen and Juri and..." She broke off and he felt droplets of water hit his chest.

"Renamon." Ryo finished for her, rubbing her back softly to calm her down.

She sniffed, "And after the digimon left...at least we tamers had each other right...?" She laughed bitterly, "But no...we all must grow up...go to college... away from all the people that actually _mattered_ in our lives."

"Just because you guys are going to college...it doesn't mean that you'll never see each other again."

"This is the first time I've seen you in two years." She answered pointedly. He sighed knowing full well that she was right. They stayed in silence once more before Ryo once again decided to break it.

"Ruki... do you regret any moment of being a tamer...? Of meeting Takato and all the others...? Of being with Renamon...?"

"...No..."

"...Then...no matter how much it hurts to be separated from the people you love...you wouldn't ever trade those moments with them?"

A whisper, "...No..."

"Then it was all worth it in the end."

They were silent once more but this time Ruki was the one to break the silence, "Ryo...?"

"Yeah?"

"...Can you take me home now?" Her voice was a subdued whisper and Ryo would have had a hard time believing that this was in fact Makino Ruki if recent events hadn't transpired.

"...Yeah..."

* * *

"Thanks..." 

"That's what friends are for." Ryo responded with a smile as he left her off his back. He looked Ruki over, and found that she was rather sober and could make it into her house without falling down. Thus, making sure she was safe, he was satisfied.

"Goodnight Ruki...and happy birthday."

She nodded, then pulled him into a gentle embrace an kissed him on the check, "Goodnight...and thanks again...really." And she pranced into her house and shut the door. Ryo stood there in wonderment, idly touching his cheek with his hand. Turning to walk to the train station, he could only mutter one thing to himself.

"Well...maybe she wasn't sober after all."

* * *

Okay, just to clear up some confusion. This would take place around midnight of Ruki's birthday, and as for the legal drinking age in Japan...well...I don't know what it is but for the sake of this fic, it's 18. I also kinda had to screw with continuity for the sake of this fic, so no, the digimon did not come back after 6 months. Well, either that or make Ruki's dad a meanie for some Ruki angst, but why do that to the poor man who had like...5 minutes of screen time as a nice guy in the sixth movie? And yes, that and the entire fic was probably just an excuse to write drunk!Ruki...which was pretty fun to write may I add. 

And yes, sorry if the story isn't up to par with my others, it wasn't revised, but I just wanted to write one last fic before summer ended on me, and school starts tomorrow. So if some part of it is just really bad, I'll try to revise it some time. As always, reviews are welcome and loved.

AND! If you're looking for a good Ryuki fic with yummy grammar and characterization, go read le-petit-chou's 'To Fight Fate', it's a really good read and looks like it's going to have an interesting plot as well.


End file.
